Where You Been (LP)

This was the only Dinosaur Jr album between 1988’s Bug and 2007’s ‘Beyond’ to be recorded entirely with a full band. During the bands major label year, Mascis performed most of the instruments himself.The album featured the single ‘Start Choppin’ was their biggest hit, hitting number 3 on the Rock Charts in the USA and Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart. There was something unabashedly classic about ‘Where You Been’s rock. Released at the height of ‘grunge’, it cleverly avoided any Nirvana-esque crossover, not least from Mascis’s copious guitar heroics, layering multiple tracks of scree and howl so the entire album feels like one epic, sky-scraping solo. With his fondness for extended guitar play, his country-soaked rock crunch, his cracked and sweet vocals, the album identified Mascis as hewn from the same stone as Neil Young before him.